NAME

mt − magnetic tape manipulating program

SYNOPSIS

mt [ −f tapename ] command [ count ]

DESCRIPTION

mt lets you give commands to a magnetic tape drive.  If you do not specify a tapename, mt uses the environment variable TAPE.  If TAPE does not exist, mt uses the device /dev/rmt12.  Note that tapename must refer to a raw (not block) tape device. 

By default mt performs the requested operation once.  To perform an operation multiple times, specify count. mt returns a 0 exit status if the operations were successful, 1 if a command was unrecognized, or 2 if an operation failed. 

The available commands are listed below.  You need to specify only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command. 

eof, weof
Writes count end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape. 

fsf Forward spaces count files. 

fsr Forward spaces count records. 

bsf Backspaces count files. 

bsr Backspaces count records. 

offline, rewoffl
Rewinds the tape and places the tape unit off-line (Count is ignored). 

reten Rewinds the tape all the way forward and backward to even out reel tension. 

rewind
Rewinds the tape (Count is ignored). 

status
Prints status information about the tape unit.

-f tapename Specifies a tape device other than the default /dev/rmt12

FILES

/dev/rmt∗Raw magnetic tape interface

SEE ALSO

mtio(4), dd(1), ioctlT(2), environ(7)

4th Berkeley Distribution  —  January 13, 1989